West Ham Women 0 – 1 Man City Women

Bunny Shaw’s strike moved Manchester City within six points of the top of the Women’s Super League with a 1-0 win at West Ham.

With Arsenal and Chelsea drawing at the Emirates Stadium in the last two weeks and Manchester United beating Liverpool to move into second place, City need a win to go level with the top three.

After the end-to-end first half that ended without a goal, Shaw put Gareth Taylor’s side in front by rounding Mackenzie Arnold and slotting forward City’s slick move with Yui Hasegawa and Deyna Castellanos for what proved to be the winner.

The win took City to 22 points, three behind Manchester United and Arsenal. All three title rivals have a game in hand on champions Chelsea, who lead the way on 28 points.

West Ham, meanwhile, spurned the chance to move one point behind City and as a result dropped to sixth after Everton’s win over Reading earlier in the day.

How City edged past the Hammers

Manchester City’s opening first period started well with plenty of possession and half chances, but West Ham got the better of them and created better chances to take the lead.

City had Chloe Kelly and Lauren Hemp wreaking havoc on both wings, with the latter seeing several close-range chances blocked, while defender Allana Kennedy forced Australian compatriot Arnold into a good stop in the Hammers goal.

But West Ham came within inches of taking the lead from a corner as an almighty goalmouth scramble saw Grace Fisk prod a shot goalward from six yards – but Leila Ouahabi hacked the ball away on the goal line with Ellie Roebuck beaten.

The Hammers created another good chance to take the lead on the stroke of half-time when Risa Shimizu broke down the right wing and her close-range drive was parried by City goalkeeper Roebuck.

Hosts Paul Konchesky will rue a missed opportunity as City took the lead just five minutes after the interval.

The visitors played two good vertical passes to Hasegawa and Castellanos to open up West Ham’s midfield. Castellanos then played through Shaw with a superb pass, leaving the striker with the simple task of rounding Arnold in the Hammers’ net and tapping home his ninth league goal of the season.

West Ham tried to respond immediately when Fisk headed over Lucy Evans’ free-kick when he was found unmarked in the six-yard box.

Shaw, however, was in a different mood because he was denied another goal by the best last-ditch challenge by Hawa Cissoko, moments before flicking on Kelly’s cross that just evaded the onrushing Hemp to tap at the far post.

The City goalscorer missed the chance to double his lead when he burst down the right and struck the outside of the far post, with Hemp seeing his flick turned over by Arnold.

The West Ham goalkeeper was also equal to Castellanos’ close-range finish from the resulting corner, as the game failed to go in City’s favor – earning them a vital three points.

Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor to Sky Sports after the win: “It was a difficult match. It would have been better if we had gone ahead with more chances in the second half.

“We were very calm at half-time. I always felt we needed time before we had a chance and we scored early and I thought it was a very good goal. I thought we showed good resilience and saw the game out. Well.”

West Ham manager Paul Konchesky: “I think my team was very good today. We want to keep going. We want to go as high as we can and get as many points as we can.

“We want to be successful. Hopefully, we can do that. I think if we put in performances like this every week, then we can go a long way.”

What’s next?

Both teams turn their attention to the WSL FA Cup in midweek, with Manchester City travel to City of Leicesterwhen West Ham go to Brighton.

Man City’s next WSL match is a home game Villa Aston Kablife goes on Sky Sports with kick-off at 11.30am. West HamMeanwhile, travel to Everton in the league next Sunday.